A Reluctant Gym Rat

It’s been about 5 months since I posted anything about my ongoing adventures in trying to turn my non-athletic self into a gym rat. That is because shortly after my last post, I started experiencing worsening GI symptoms which triggered a series of medical procedures including gall bladder surgery.  It has been a tough five months of medical management for motility issues affecting my esophagus, stomach, gallbladder and intestines, but after much trial and error, I believe I am finally to a point where I am having more good days than bad days. 

Throughout that period, I lost 15 pounds and then gained back ten. I found myself turning to whatever foods my body would tolerate, and developed a pattern of gorging on comfort foods on the good days and fasting on the bad days. Italian wedding soup, Cream of Chicken soup with added chicken and smoothies became my go to foods. Exercise routines were non-existent as all of my energy was spent just getting through the day. Now that I have finally reached a point where I have better control over my body, I am trying to slowly move back into a routine where I am making healthier food choices again and am able to carve out time in my day for a little exercise.  I began with short walks around my office several weeks ago, moved on to longer walks in my neighborhood and finally yesterday, I hit the gym for the first time since this whole episode started. 

It have to admit that it felt great to begin again, even as I quickly realized that I was going to have to start from scratch. I managed a very slow twenty minutes on the step machine, only lasting that long, because I had made the wise decision to take my daughter along. I was simply too embarrassed after telling her to set her timer to thirty minutes to step off after only ten minutes like my body wanted me too.  Our weight routine went far better than the cardio, and I was pleasantly surprised to be able to manage Ab exercises post abdominal surgery. I even managed to complete multiple sets despite my daughter dissolving into giggling fits next to me when I added pelvic tilts.  When I started this blog over two years ago now, I knew that I needed a distraction from the distasteful part of getting fit...the exercising. I needed outside motivation to push me, and in reaching out to those around me for support I helped set myself up for success. With everyone's support, I accomplished something that I had never managed before in my life. I maintained a steady fitness routine for almost two years. But towards the end of the second year, I learned the hard way that a small break in that routine is enough to derail all of the hard work that had gone on before, and even prior to my medical malfunctions, I was struggling to stick to a consistent work-out schedule. I am hoping that this new start will be my last start, but I'm not going to make promises that my body might choose to break for me. For now, I am going to take it a day at a time, but I am also using a page from what worked previously. I'm trying to distract myself from the distasteful part of getting fit, so I’ve enlisted my daughter as a partner in crime. She signed up at my gym yesterday, and we’ve committed to work-out dates with each other.  I’m not sure how long I’ll have her or even how often her schedule will coincide with mine, but for however many sessions that may be, the time together is the perfect motivation for this reluctant gym rat.